Day6 for seven days a week

Here is my current obsession, be it under the K-pop umbrella or music scene in general. Day6 ain’t the first band in the K-pop industry yet is the first i truly like. And i think i got it pretty bad this time.

I initially wanted to put this up a month ago, but whenever i sat down to start and played their songs in the background, i invariably ended up looking up for their performances online then clicked on the next video, and the next, and the next… and there went my blogging will. I really can’t help it! This irresistible diversion still occurs a month later, and so i really forced myself to keep writing…

Debuted in September 2015, the pop-rock band has yet to have a fandom name. The number in the name signifies the group’s formation, which also represents the first six days of the week with the fans being the seventh. Unfortunately, this original lineup lasted for around six months only. Thereafter, Day6 proceeds as a quintet, consisting of Jae (the eldest, guitarist, rapper), Sungjin (leader, rhythm guitarist), Young K (bassist, rapper), Wonpil (synth player, keyboardist), and Dowoon (maknae, drummer).

As a band, they naturally play their own instruments and write their own songs, but it’s nice to know that they actually have the creative freedom to do so. And the results have been great. Looking at the songs’ credits, Young K seems to be the main lyricist, and the other members join him in composing the music. And barely two years since debuting, they have dropped two EPs, five Every Day6 releases, and a full album due next month. Plenty enough yet not too many for new fans to catch up.

Every Day6 is an awesome project for 2017, cuz when other acts would release one or two singles and maybe an album per year, the quintet will release two songs on the 6th* of every month (*except May, June, August, October). That’s 24 new songs in a year! The fans are certainly pampered. There are songs i like better than the others, but there isn’t a song i dislike, which is always a plus point in my book.

Unlike other bands, there is no frontman in Day6. Every member except Dowoon can definitely carry a tune, and the line distribution is equal. However, the maknae is reported to be taking vocal lessons, so it’s probably a matter of time before we hear him sing. The fans might probably lose it when that actually happens, given how stoked they were over his “1,2… 1,2,3” intro in Dance Dance — or when he stole Young K’s moment by singing the “movie~” part of Man in the movie in their recent Busking event. LOL.

Furthermore, each of them has quite a distinct singing voice that it’s fairly easy to tell who’s singing. The main challenge when getting to know a group after recognizing the faces (which is a piece of cake in Day6 as theirs are quite distinct as well) and learning the members’ names is identifying their tones. This is possibly the hardest part, especially when there is more than one member who shares similar-sounding voice, but also the stage that gives me a sense of accomplishment once cleared. Fortunately, Day6’s isn’t that hard to distinguish; there are only five of them, and each of them has their own unique color and style that i could get it right 90% of the time.

I’m bad at describing traits, but Jae’s is crisp and reedy, Sungjin’s is baritone and slightly gravelly, Young K’s is clear and chameleon-like (i love his lower register, especially when rapping), Wonpil’s is sharp and nasally. When it comes to rock music, Sungjin’s voice is the best fit, but Wonpil turns heads with his powerful pipe; Young K injects energy and builds the appropriate mood, while Jae balances everything out with his softer tone, though sometimes his can come off a bit too thin atop the strong instruments.

What captured my attention, however, was their songs. Their sounds reminded me of the pop-rock music/artists i grew up listening to in early 2000s (Linkin Park, Avril Lavigne, Daughtry, etc.), the angsty kind that feels so cathartic to sing along to. That’s mostly their lead track materials, because their album tracks are cooler and cheerier in general. The last two Every Day6 releases also come with sunnier title tracks: I’m serious is playful and carefree whereas Dance Dance is their blithest song ever. The latter sounds like Freely (from the first EP), only bouncier and more high-octane, as seen from the accompanying MV below. It’s a freewheeling footage — watch the boys going wild and enjoying themselves — which is the surefire concept to draw you to the group’s dynamics. It did the trick for me, though they’ve already grown on me by then.

While these songs are effective pick-me-ups, i personally dig their angstier, moodier selections like Letting go, You were beautiful, I would, or Man in the movie. Production-wise, theirs is rather straightforward; no fancy arrangement or anything, but equipped with necessary progressions, nice crescendos, big choruses, and earworm hooks. Simple but delivers.

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2 thoughts on “Day6 for seven days a week”

That ‘down to the YT rabbit hole’ happens to me frequently too. 🙂 I start out with ‘just checking’ a particular video and before I know it, hours has passed, LOL!

I was obsessed with ‘Letting Go’ when it first came out and kept on palying it on repeat. Well, that’s what I did pretty much with the whole album. ‘Blood’ was my ringtone for ages, I just switched it the other day, to another earworm… Winner’s ‘Really Really’. 😀